When the Rose Dies
by ItachiRules16
Summary: Another self insert. Seems like fun. R&R plz
1. Chapter 1

Character Bio

Age:19

Weight:150 Lbs.

Hair style/color: Dark blonde/ curly, thick.

Eye color: Blue

Name: Chris Carlisle, A.K.A Zero

Previous occupation: Unknown

Special features: Weapons training, and carrying an M4 Carbine. Also, wearing self-made armor. See next paragraph for weapon and armor description.

Weapons and apparel:

Weapons: M4 Carbine with Acog scope. 600 rounds

Beretta 9MM, silenced. 200 rounds.

2 frag grenades and 2 flash grenades.

Machete (Strapped on back.

Apparel: Steel plated shin, fore-arm, thigh, chest and shoulder-gaurds. All sprayed black.

Black tee shirt and jean pants. Black combat boots.

Special notes/dossier:

Moral, and yet trained to military levels. Problems with orders, if lives are at stake. Throws himself headfirst into any combat situations. Has several dozen bite marks, indicating possible encounters with infected persons. Yet shows no sign of infection himself. Complete lack of memory, aside from name, involving anything before FID (First Infection Day)

First awoke in Atlanta, has been wandering in the woods for several days and is now running out of food. Our story picks up with him seeing a group of people walking through the woods.( Ricks group, on a search for Sophia, just before the barn incident.)

Has decided to shadow them, find their camp and approach them at an opportune moment.


	2. Chapter 2

I sighed inwardly, once again, as I circled the farm a second time. One of them, who I had dubbed Meathead, was trying to start something at the barn near the center of said farm. I had located it some days ago, still searching for the little girl I had founds family. I remembered the scene vividly.

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I had been moving through the woods, headed east in hopes of meeting any surviving military personnel after I had heard they were retreating in that direction when I heard her scream for help. Normally, I would abandon anyone who was not going to survive, but something told me to check this voice out. I turned, headed west towards the sound, and ran for several minutes towards the screams. Halfway there, I spotted small girl fleeing a group of around eight infected.

"This way, kid! Bring them here!" I called, drawing my sidearm and combat knife and moving towards them in long, cool strides. She seemed to hear me, leading the pack in a small semi-circle towards me. "When you pass me, head for the trees. I'll take them and be right there. Wait for me."

"Ok..." She gasped, sprinting past me with the infected close behind her. I didn't see where exactly she went, instead moving towards the nearest infected. I gritted my teeth, slamming the knife through the once living young woman's skull with enough force she nearly flipped once then knife had torn through the top of her skull. I fired three quick, precise shots at a cluster of them and downed a target for each shot. I smirked as the last cluster approached hungrily, three more rounds doing their work and I moved towards the snarling corpse of a young man with a large bit on his face. I swept his leg out from beneath him, following his descent with my descending knife into his skull.

"It's safe now, kid. Come on out." She did as I asked, walking towards me cautiously while I reloaded my sidearm and replaced it on my thigh. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah. Thanks for helping me." She said, stopping a few feet from me and looking at my armor, as well as the carnage I had just unleashed." Who are you?"

"For now, call me Zero. What's your name, kid? And where are your parents?" I asked, keeping my distance with my hands relaxed at my side to try and show I meant her no harm.

"Sophia. And we got separated. They tried to save me, but I got chased too far away." She said quietly, rubbing her right forearm nervously.

"When was this?" I asked, looking at the woods behind her for any movement to indicate any threat. "And don't be scared. If I wanted you dead, I would have left you for the infected."

"I know. And it was two days ago. I've been hiding in the trees since, looking for my group. But I can't find the highway again."

"The one east of here is the only one near here. Where were you traveling from?" I asked, kneeling to try and remove some intimidation for her.

"Atlanta." She answered, copying me but falling on her butt and deciding to stay seated.

"Ok. I know the highway. Which way did you come from?" I asked quickly, smiling behind my visor.

"That way," she said, pointing behind me," At least, I think it was that way."

"Then we should head east to the highway and head back towards Atlanta. When we reach a familiar area, we'll know were going the wrong way and turn the other way." I said, standing up and stepping towards her. She seemed to shrink inwardly when I pulled my sidearm form its holster and offered it to her. "Take it, there is one infected coming from behind me. Use this to kill it."

"B-but…" she stammered nervously looking at the gun and then me in turns.

"You need to learn, so that this doesn't happen again. There is only one, so you can take your time to aim. If it gets to close, I'll take care of it." I said, tightening my grip on my knife and turning after she, hesitantly, took the large-ish gun. "Square your shoulders, use both hands, feet apart with your left foot forward. Take a breath, let it out and fire."

She took several seconds, checking to be sure she had followed each of my instructions carefully and looking at me for confirmation before looking at me hesitantly. I nodded, gesturing at the approaching infected who had a significant limp, which was most likely why it had fallen behind in the chase moments ago. The first shot tore into the infected's shoulder which, considering she had only tried once was rather impressive. The second shot landed squarely in its forehead, throwing it back onto the ground.

"I got it!" she said, turning to me excitedly with a smile on her face.

"Good work." I said, taking the weapon, reloading it and returning it to her." That was very impressive. You've got some natural talent for this it seems. Now, let's find your mother."

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It had been nearly a week since that day, and she had improved considerably. When we found a truck that had been carrying welding equipment, I had stopped us for a couple days and made her a facsimile of the armor I wore myself, even painting it black. At first, she had complained of its weight but, after the shin guard stopped a bite, she stopped and seemed to be more comfortable in the armor than out. I've worried that she might be scared to take it off, but I felt that it was probably a good thing as she wouldn't want to take it off, thus minimalizing the risk of infection. Unfortunately, I had been unable to find anything to make the helmet and visor so she was stuck with a riot mask.

Now, we were preparing to meet her group. She was nervous, as she explained to me now. "What if she doesn't like me anymore? I have changed, you said so yourself."

It was true. I had said she was different, because she was. She was tougher, more skilled. When we'd met, I had to protect her constantly. Now, if I died, I know she would survive. "True, but we will not know 'til we try. Right?" I asked, following the group as they moved towards the barn. "Troubles brewing. We should go now, before they start something. Meathead there seems to be causing trouble."

"That's Shane, and he has always been a little hot headed in my opinion." She said, smiling at my nick name. "I told you all their names. And you're very right. We should go now."

I nodded, and we broke from cover to move towards the group. One of them, the Asian boy named 'Ten' or 'Gen' or something like that, pointed at us to get everyone's attention. I don't blame him. Two armed, armored strangers walking towards me would make me nervous too. Everyone stopped what they were doing and three people, Shane, an older man whose name I could not recall and the leader, Rick I believe his name is, came towards. Shane had a shotgun, which he had taken from the Asian boy, and he didn't hesitate to point it at my chest.

"Who are you?" The leader asked, leaving his hand on his large revolver. I got the message.

"I am Zero, and I'm a friend. I believe you all know Sophia." I said quietly, gesturing at the small, armored and fidgety girl beside me.

"Sophia?!" Rick said, dropping his hand from his revolver and turning his gaze on her. Shane and the older man mirrored his gesture, Shane even lowering the shotgun slightly. "You're ok? Oh my god, Carol will be so happy. Everyone will."

"Yeah. I'm happy too." She said, looking at him from behind the visor.

"We've been looking for you for days." Shane said disbelievingly.

"Could you call my mom over. I want to meet her first, before the rest of the group." She asked, placing her hand on my sidearm out of habit.

Rick nodded, turning around and calling out to the slightly older looking woman who came towards us after a brief hesitation. "Yes, rick?' She asked once she had joined us on the slight incline.

In response, Rick gesture towards Sophia who reached up and pulled the helmet off her head. I don't know about the others, but I could see the nervousness written on her face clearly. "Hi mom. Miss me?"

The reaction was almost instant, and very satisfying. Carol's mouth went slack, and she just stared at her daughter for several long seconds before she collapsed to her knees. She reached out with her hands to the young girl, placing them on her shoulder," Sophie? Is that you?"

The girl nodded, and her mother pulled her into a hug, despite the armor, and sobbed against the girl's shoulder. I smiled once Sophia returned the hug, smiling a large, shit eating grin.

"Hey, uh, Zero. Come here a sec." Rick said, gesturing at me from several feet away. I looked at Sophia, and she pulled away long enough to give me a curt nod. I nodded back and she returned to hugging her mother. I walked over to Rick, stopping a few feet away from him. 'I just wanted to thank you, for bringing her back. My group really needed that. We've been so worried about her."

"Yeah. We been lookin' everywhere for 'er. Thanks man." A very, very, very rugged looking man said, coming up beside me un-noticed. I turned sharply, hand grabbing my knife on instinct. "Whoa, man. Jus' cool it. I aint gonna' hurtcha or nothing. The hells your problem?"

"Sorry. You startled me.' I said, relaxing slightly and struggling to bring my nerves under control." Out there, when you're by yourself especially, you get startled right before something tries to kill you. So you kind of end up wired."

"Nah man, I gotcha. Makes alotta' snese actually. No hard feelins'." He said, nodding at me and looking at Rick.

"So what will you do now?" He asked, startling me.

"I'll head back out after I say goodbye to Sophia." I said, gesturing with my thumb towards where we had come from.

"Now why ya gonna do that?" the redneck asked, head tilted slightly to the side. "Ya should stay with us. Watcha think, Rick?"

"You are welcome with my group as long as you want to stay. And as long as you don't cause trouble." He said calmly, offering his hand," We owe you, for saving one of us."

I thought about it for several seconds,' To hell with it!' I grabbed his hand and shook it. "I'm at your service whenever you need me, sir."

He nodded, smiling slightly and the redneck man clapped me on the shoulder before he yanked it back quickly," Damn, that hurt like a bitch. How hard is that shit?"

"Bulletproof." I answered, shrugging at him. "And, more importantly, bite proof."

"Impressive, now come on. We should introduce you to everyone." He said, looking at the group that was gathering around my small friend," though I'd be willing to bet Sophia has already been talking about you, so you may need to know names rather than introducing yourself." He said, chuckling before we turned and headed towards the group of survivors.

(What do you think? I need some tips about typing Daryl's lines, but other than any ineptitude in that area, how'd I do?

Also, thanks to all my new followers for Champion of War, I will be uploading soon with several chapters. I've got so many ideas spinning around in my head for all these stories though, so I need advice on them. Anything would prove very, very useful. Even if it seems obvious, say it anyway. I'll try and respond to any useful ideas, and any I may be saving for another story. Thank you, come again.)


	3. Chapter 3

We went to the house to talk, everyone gathering in the living room. I stood by the far window, staring out at the surrounding forest. After a few minutes Rick stood up, and got everyone's attention with a loud clap of his hands.

"Ok, everyone listen up. We need to have a little chat about our new guest. Herschel, do you mind him staying? He could prove immensely useful.' Rick said, looking at the older man from earlier.

"As long as he behaves himself, and contributes, I don't care. He saved that little girl, so he's already got more good will with me than the rest of your group." Hershel said, waving a hand dismissively towards Rick.

"Very well then, I think introductions are in order. I am Rick, this is my wife, Lori, and my son Carl." He gestured towards a small boy and a woman standing protectively beside him, eyeing me suspiciously," The Asian looking guy is Glenn, the redneck form earlier is Daryl.' At this Daryl flipped Rick the bird before going back to minding his own business in the corner," that guy over there is T-Dog and beside him is Shane." I looked at them through my visor, nodding towards them each in turn. "And, of course, you already know Carl and Sophia."

"I'll introduce my own family, if that's ok with you, Rick." The old man said, rising from the couch with a small smirk. "My name is Hershel. These are my daughters, Maggie Lisa (forgot her name. It's a fan fiction, so I'll keep it as Lisa. Don't like it, then don't read. Thanks.) My son, Paul, is feeding the chickens." He said, putting an arm around the young girls." Follow my rules and we'll get along fine."

"Fair enough." I said, looking back out my window." Shit, infected." I said, drawing my rifle and heading towards the door.

"What? Why isn't Andrea shooting them?" Rick asked as he followed me out the door, the others following right behind. "Shit, there's got to be at least fifty of them. And they've got the camper surrounded." T-Dog said, pointing at an old camper near some tents. "Wanna bet Dale and Andrea is in there?"

"Sophia, let's go. The rest of you, in the house. Do not leave until they are all dead." I said, drawing my knife in my left hand and pressing it along the grip of my rifle before moving towards the biggest cluster of infected, by the camper.

"Sophia, no!" Carol said as the girl followed me into the open area, circling to the outside edge with my hand gun drawn and ready to move. Daryl grabbed Carol, keeping her on the porch.

I looked at Sophia and, seeing her nod a confirmation at me, I moved forward and began to fire quick bursts at the group. I downed around eight before my clip ran dry and I reattached the rifle to my back and charged towards the remainder. They turned, and three more fell to Sophia's shots as their heads exploded across the side of the camper. She moved in, charging from the weakest side like I had taught her, and continued to fire on the remaining infected.

Just before we clashed, I smiled slightly. 'This is gonna be fun.' I thought, backhanding an infected woman across the jaw with my right hand, followed by the knife in my left. It sank into her head, and I released it before grabbing it quickly with my right hand so the 'dead' woman wouldn't fall with it. I grabbed a second infected's shirt, tossing him to the side to trip a trio before they could overwhelm me and drag me down. Four more fell to my knife, moving towards Sophia's location while she also fought towards mine. It was an effective tactic, hitting form multiple sides and regrouping in the center of the mass then picking a direction and everyone pushing through it. This tactic was known to work on a max of one hundred infected. And, though I had no clue where I had learned it, it was a useful trick.

"Seven-teen." Sophia said, once we had regrouped.

"Nine-teen." I answered, smiling as I readied for the now drastically thinned horde. "Which way is thinnest?" I asked, delivering a swift roundhouse and downing a slightly speedier infected man in a bloodied business suit.

"Towards the house, they've been taking shots with a couple guns they've got. It's not much, but they got a few. Or we could hold here. There's only twenty more."

"No, you left your helmet in the house. Move in three…."

The infected were within five yards now, snarling at us menacingly.

"Two…

Several shots rang out, and five more infected fell near the back of the group. Sophia and I each killed a couple of the faster ones, me kicking one's skull hard enough to cave it in and smashing another to the ground with my fist, followed by my boot caving its skull in.

"One!" We both said in unison, charging into the group of snarling creatures. I stabbed one, using its corpse to trip up three more before Sophia executed them with shots from a freshly reloaded hand gun. 'Fifteen…'

We continued through, cutting down another eight before we left the group. I smiled, turning to look at the decimated group. Sophia fired the rounds remaining in her clip, dropping the number down to five. That's when I saw her, stumbling towards me. I didn't know her, but the sight of her sent me into shock for several long seconds. For one, she wore armor. Exactly like mine. I collapsed to my knee, hands going slack as the last of the group approached me. Sophia called my name, reloading her weapon frantically. I would have died there, had the survivors not moved up and finished them for me.

"You okay, Zero?" I never did answer him. I was too busy blacking out. It took a while to find out why I reacted like that. Not for a long, long time.


	4. Chapter 4

(A/N: This will be a very, very short chapter. It will mainly focus on revealing a bit of 'Zero's' past. As it stands, he cannot remember anything from before several days before finding Sophia, which will be explained in this chapter at least in part. I just felt this small addition would help set the character in place. Also, I need other characters for the other members of his old team members, none of which are currently named. If you would like to be one, submit a Bio to me, including weapons and personalities. Thanks for the patience.)

I lifted my rifle, downing several more infected as my team and I fell back to the evac point. We had been ordered into the area to rescue some civilians. Those 'civilians' turned out to be militants who wanted to take over Atlanta for themselves. We had been engaged fairly quickly, though our armor protected us from the worst of it.

"Sir, they have RPG's." One of my team members, whose face I could not see behind his visor, said.

"Pull back. Use the buildings for cover and focus on them." I ordered, sliding my rifle over my shoulder to clamp onto my back's magnetic clamps. I turned, jogging up the road with my men following close behind. We stopped occasionally, firing suppressive bursts at our pursuers and killing any pursuing infected who were too close.

"Helicopter just radioed in, sir. Their waiting for us, but we need to hurry. They say they cannot hold out much longer." A woman said, finger pressed against the side of her helmet. "Infected are overwhelming, but the militants aren't there."

I nodded, leading my men around the final corner. It was a straight, one hundred yard shot to the FOB. The only issue was the massive horde of infected occupying the road leading up to it. I looked to each side, receiving curt nods from my Second and Third before I drew my rifle once more and we began cutting through them. It was fairly quick and easy, due mostly to our armor and our tactics, and they were falling quickly to our bullets, fists and blades. _This _is what we trained for. Fighting the infected was what we were trained for and what we were equipped to do.

Their teeth, though easily capable of tearing through bone and flesh, found no purchase on our armor. We had trained for the apocalypse for years, and we were quickly approached by the government when the first infections started. They had asked what we though should be done, and we had told them to drop nukes on the areas of most infection and then quarantine the others until they had been secured.

This was, unfortunately, refused. The way they put it, they couldn't just drop nuclear warheads on American soil. A few weeks later, after even more infections, they came back. Once more asking for our aid. We told them that, had they listened the first time, this would not have happened and now there was no easy way to win except destroying every infected human in the country. As a result, they had contracted us as a 'professional interdiction and assistance unit' as well as 'professional defensive and offensive coordinators'. Short hand, mercenaries.

We had been asked to pull out the people who had been militants as part of the stalling tactic that was the defense of Atlanta. With our aid, almost four hundred people had escaped from the homes, cars, businesses and anywhere else where they had been trapped. We called ourselves Spartans, taking the name of the ancient city-state because of its military prowess. So far, we seemed to be upholding the honor behind the name.

Within minutes of launching our 'break charge', an offensive assault meant to cut multiple, deep swathes through any enemies for the purpose of reaching an otherwise un-obtainable goal, we reached the chopper. Several Army personnel were defending it, and joined us on the air-borne transport upon our arrival. We took off, abandoning one of the last lines we had in Atlanta. I sighed, and ordered that the city be abandoned. Too many infected to hold back any longer, we had to fall back to defend the highway, and allow the civilians more time to get some distance between them and the city of the dead.

After several minutes of flight, the chopper pitched violently to the right. A scream came from the cockpit, and I looked to see one of our pilots trying to turn the other into a snack. We were unable to render any assistance, so I turned to my men and ordered them to brace themselves.

"Sir," a young woman started, strapping herself into a seat," What's going to happen to us?"

"Don't worry, we'll be just fine." I lied, strapping in next to her," Just trust your armor, it'll do its job."

"Yessir." She said, turning to face forward again. We pitched forward violently again.

"I'm sorry…." The pilot gasped over the mike," I'm bit….. Won't last long….. Hard landing coming up…"

I pressed the button on the speaker to connect to his radio," Just find us a nice spot, Lieutenant. You've done very well. You should be proud."

A moment later, we slammed through a tree, shearing away the tail and setting us spinning towards the ground. We crashed to the forest floor seconds later, roof first, and I remember my head slamming back against my helmet and then I passed out.

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I woke up with a gasp, once more reliving one of my few memories. I knew I was a Spartan, but I had no idea who _I _was or who the other men and women were. I had been laid on a couch and it seemed to be getting dark, or light depending on the time, and I didn't see anyone around me at the time. I stood up, still in my armor. Guess they couldn't get it off, and exited the bedroom I was in, heading downstairs.

I stopped next to the dining room, a light, accompanied by voices and the sounds of eating, told me it was dinner time. I carefully crept to the edge of the door, listening to the group for Sophia's voice.

"I'm fine, mom. He taught me a lot of stuff while we were looking for you guys. Even made me this armor, even though it isn't anywhere near as good as his."

"Still, you are only a child. You shouldn't have attacked head on like that." Carol said worriedly.

"This isn't a world where kids are safe with being kids anymore, mom." Sophia answered," I had to grow up, so I did."

"In all fairness, she has a point." Glenn said," Even if we don't like it, everyone needs to be able to fight. Otherwise, were all in danger."

"Yeah, he's right." Daryl said," I'll teach her to hunt and track too, so she can take care of herself if we get separated again."

"Maybe we could have training days. Daryl could teach hunting, Carol cooking, Andrea and Shane could teach shooting and the new guy could teach and to hand." Glenn suggested, through the sound of him chewing.

"Why don't we ask him, when he wakes up." Hershel asked quietly. "I could teach a few of you farming too."

"Just ask him now," Sophia said," He is right outside the door, ya know."

I stepped through the door, shaking my head and chuckling. "It's a sound idea. Anyone who's interested, meet me in front of the house a ten on the dot. Sophia, you come too. I'll need someone to help me teach." She nodded, and I settled into a spot on the floor, in the corner, to eat. I just listened to the rest of Rick's group chat about small thins, and frowned. 'I'll have to leave soon, but I can at least make these guys Spartans' I thought, taking a bite of potatoes, just as Glenn threw his fork at Carl,' Or at least as close as is possible.'

(A/N So how was it? I know it's been awhile since I touched this story, but all the sudden support has inspired me. How was the flashback, and any tips on making future ones better? Thanks for reading, and p.m. or review with suggestions. P.M. ONLY for character bios. I need between five and fifteen.)


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